{"id":1103,"date":"2009-07-29T20:40:14","date_gmt":"2009-07-30T02:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1103"},"modified":"2009-07-29T20:40:14","modified_gmt":"2009-07-30T02:40:14","slug":"romans-114-indebted-to-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-114-indebted-to-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 1:14 – Indebted to God"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/p>\n

Romans 1:14<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul was compelled to preach to the Gentiles because of what he owed to God.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDebtor\u201d is from opheilet\u0113s<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cone who owes a debt or a favor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Greek word that is translated \u201cbarbarians<\/span>\u201d in today\u2019s verse is barbarois<\/span><\/em> which literally is \u201cbarbar ones\u201d or \u201cthose who say barbar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is an interesting verse from the apostle Paul. <\/span>On the surface it appears that Paul is saying that he owes a debt to a number of people, but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what he means. Paul was called by God specifically to be the apostle to the Gentiles (nations), that is, to non-Jews. We see this later in Romans:<\/span><\/p>\n

For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles,<\/span> <\/span>(<\/span>Romans 11:13<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, Paul did not have an option as to whether or not he was to preach the gospel. He was compelled to do so by God. He owed it to God because of what God had done for him (salvation) and because he was called by God to do it. <\/span><\/p>\n

For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!<\/span> (<\/span>1 Corinthians 9:16<\/span><\/strong>)<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Paul calls himself a debtor. He felt like he owed a great debt to God, and it was only by being obedient to God\u2019s call that he could pay off that debt. He expresses that debt in terms of people because it was to people that he was compelled to preach. <\/span><\/p>\n

In today\u2019s verse Paul says that he is \u201c<\/span>debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians,<\/span>\u201d but what does he mean? We have to remember that when Rome conquered any land, those who were conquered were permitted to retain their local language, but they were also required to use the common language of the Empire. This common language was Greek. Hence, anyone who spoke Greek was considered civilized. Anyone who did not speak Greek sounded like someone uttering, \u201cbar, bar, bar \u2026\u201d Thus, they were called barbarians. <\/span><\/p>\n

Paul then expresses these two classes of people in another manner as further explanation, \u201cto wise and unwise.<\/span>\u201d A literal translation of this phrase would be \u201cto the wise and the unintelligent<\/span>.\u201d I think he makes this distinction so that it is clear that he is not talking about a political difference, but a social difference. He wants to show that he is not bound or prohibited to preach to people based on social class, because the gospel is to all people regardless of social class.<\/span><\/p>\n

Paul felt a strong constraint on himself to do what God had called him to do. He felt a deep seated conviction that he was called to preach. He also clearly believed that all who are saved are called to serve. Paul goes into much more detail about this notion in Romans chapter eight. <\/span><\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

What has God called you to do for Him? Do you feel compelled to obey Him the way Paul does?<\/span><\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"signature\"<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2009 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

<\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone \"\"(618) 614-3070<\/span><\/span><\/span> and leave a message telling us your name and e-mail address or you can send an e-mail to:\"e-mail<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 1:14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. Truth to Learn Paul was compelled to preach to the Gentiles because of what he owed to God. Behind the Words \u201cDebtor\u201d is from opheilet\u0113s, meaning \u201cone who owes a debt or a favor.\u201d The Greek word […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[426,427],"class_list":["post-1103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-barbarian","tag-debtor"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-hN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1103\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}